Comic-Con is truly one in the millions

It’s just a formality, but Comic-Con sent out an advisory Thursday noting its convention this week is a sellout. More noteworthy was Comic-Con’s estimate of the convention’s expected financial fallout for San Diego: Attendee spending, $67.8 million; tax revenues, $2.8 million; room nights, 126,000; economic impact, $162.8 million.

Near and far: Jason Hughes and his family flew 20,000 miles this month, visited five countries in 11 days, and brought home an object lesson in “small world.” Directly behind them in the immigration line at the Nepal airport: their neighbors who live two houses down in Rancho Santa Fe . . . The July 22 lineup at Anthology nightclub sounds more like the dinner offering than the entertainment bill: Pretzel Logic and Haute Chile . . . A team from the Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible” (the dining equivalent of HGTV’s “Extreme Makeover”) was filming this week at The Trails restaurant in San Carlos when an errant driver plowed through the front windows of the recently shuttered Fish Merchant restaurant next door. No collateral damage to The Trails. But a potential new makeover show for HGTV.

West meets east: On a fact-finding mission to China, county Supervisor Ron Roberts caught a quick glimpse of progress Far East-style. During his visit, two articles in China Daily noted the recent extension of the country’s high-speed rail network to 6,200 miles and the completion of the world’s largest cross-sea bridge (26 miles) in just three years. Sighs Roberts, “We may have put a man on the moon in less than 10 years, but we can’t put a train on the ground or a bridge over any water in less than a decade — or maybe two. We study; they build.”

Sweeping up: Harry Potter’s final installment hits theaters today, but UC San Diego students have been bringing the fantasy to reality since last fall. That’s when they established a forming chapter of the movie series’ broom-wielding sport Quidditch. And now the “semi-contact” game has been sanctioned as an official club sport, sponsored by the university’s recreation department. What’s next? An expansion of the sport to the greater San Diego area, predicts co-captain Eric Walker.

Sympathy bid: Lauren Wilson spotted the creative pitch for funds on a sign held aloft by a down-and-outer on the O.B. freeway: “My wife had a better attorney.”